Up the Mast

Today was another first for the captain and crew of the Mystic Journey. We have needed to change the bulb in the anchor light for a while now - since Dominica. However, that entails one of us going up the mast. One of us being Griff since I can't see myself ever going up the mast. First we didn't have a bosun's chair to get him up the mast. Then after buying a bosun's chair we just couldn't get around to doing it. We meant to do it while Randy and Aleitha were here so he could help hoist, but it didn't happen. Since then the wind and rain have not been coorperative. We should have done it while up on the hard when the boat would not have been moving, but again for various reasons didn't. Today we had to even though the wind was blowing. We could hear a knocking sound against the mast and on investigation we discovered that one of the flood lights on the first spreader had come loose and was swinging freely in the wind. So we bit the bullet and up the mast Griff went.

Hanging on for dear life!!! (honestly, I do trust Cheryl)

I was worried about whether or not I would have the strength to get him up, but he was able to assist by pulling up on the other ropes that run along the outside of the mast. Getting him down was the next worrisome task. I remembered what Julie had told us about her experience hoisting Graham up their mast under the tutelage of an "old salt" friend of theirs. She said he told her to just lower him gradually using the winch as a brake and I also remembered the technique we use when slowly letting out the mainsail. All went well including sending supplies up in the bucket because of course once he got up there he found he needed a few things that he hadn't taken up with him. I found I wasn't as nervous as I expected to be while he was up there. I was even able to take some pictures and go below deck to get the supplies for him.

View from the Top

Now my side of the story - well, actually there is no my side. Just reading what Cheryl wrote, it sounds like we were avoiding going up the mast but that is not really the case. My concern was Cheryl getting wiped out from hauling me up there. I was on the winch for someone else once and it was tiring. Cheryl came through like a trooper. As for me - it was really exhilarating. It's funny because if I walk too close to the edge of a dropoff, I get dizzy and do NOT like it but as long as I have something to hold on to, I am okay. When I was in the military, I participated in an exercise where I had the opportunity to help drop supplies from an Otter (small plane sometimes used for cargo) to some officer cadets below. It was really cool because after we dropped the supplies, we would sit in the open cargo door with our feet hanging over the edge but strapped in and HOLDING ON. The pilots, who were reservists and usually pilots for the big airline companies, would tour around after the drop so it was lots of fun.

Back to the Caribbean - we are getting ready to leave for Tobago. We could have gone this week but wanted to wait until Graham (Julie's Graham) was gone in case he needed a hand with putting his boat on the hard at St Davids. He came over last night and stayed with us - also helped set up my SSB for Airmail use - and he left for Toronto this morning. The last thing we have to do is get the new dinghy davits adjusted so the dinghy sits closer to the boat when the dinghy is out of the water. That will be done Monday. The other factor is the weather. It has been kind of unsettled the last week or so, with strong winds, lots of rain and fairly high seas. That may be calmed a bit by Monday but whether it is or not, we are going to head out early next week.

So, see you in Tobago (or Trinidad, or Tostigos, or Margarita or wherever the wind favours!!)

The Launch

Talking about the Perry's visit and helping Graham move Artemo sort of got in the way of telling you all about 'splashing' Mystic Journey. That's what they call it when a boat goes back in the water after being up on the hard.

We splashed on Thursday. As Griff mentioned before we were booked to go in at 2PM, but they had an emergency haul out of a 'cat' that was having problems. The problems were actually fixed without hauling it out, but then another 'cat' came in and they hauled it out before putting us in.

I was surprised at how emotional it was for me to see Mystic Journey up on the lift and then back in the water. To start the splash they first put her onto the smaller lift. The one they use to put a boat up for storage. It enables them to place the boats quite close together. Then she was transferred to the lift with the slings so she could be lowered into the water. Just before they lowered her into the water, they applied the final touches to the anti-fouling paint on the keel. This was where the keel had been resting on the supports.

The video shows the last part of the splash when she actually goes into the water. The last scene is of Griff stepping onto the boat.

I (Griff) just wanted to add a bit to the bottom of this blog about the trip to St David's with Graham on Artemo. I had not realized all of the effects that this whole sailing thing had been having on me and probably still don't but I discovered something as a result of the trip.

Even though we had finally gotten the boat back in the water and I was feeling good about once more living in our home away from home, there was still a niggly going on for me. Lo and behold I discovered that it is not enough to just be on the water - I need to be sailing on the water.

When Graham and I took Artemo, Graham was gracious enough to allow me to take the helm for the whole trip. We had been checking the weather and although the forecast said fairly heavy seas and varied wind patterns, there was no break in the unsettled weather forecast for the week ahead so we decided to go ahead. Sure enough we had seas, mostly from the east, with swells up around 3 meters and the wind also almost directly from the east so we ended up motor sailing and tacking a fair amount. After about the first hour I realized that the uneasiness or the unfulfilled feelings I had been experiencing were leaving and I mentioned to Graham that this sail was exactly what I needed to get totally back on track. Amazing discovery!!!

To finish, we made St Davids safely, got Artemo settled and I came back to Cheryl and Mystic Journey feeling much better and with some new insight into myself. What more could one ask of a day!!

Artemo Leaving Prickly Bay

Another short blog. Yesterday the plan was for Griff to assist Graham in moving Artemo to St. David's Harbour. However, it was windy and rainy in the morning so they decided to postpone the trip.

Today the sun is shining although it is windy so they decided to head out. They ferried our dinghy over to the dinghy dock so that Griff would have a way back to the boat when he came back to Prickly Bay by taxi - I still am not comfortable driving the dinghy. Then it was back to Artemo to prepare for the trip. They finally left about 0945.

Putting On A Sail

Letting Go Of The Mooring Ball

Head On View

Heading Out

Leaving The Bay

Visitors

Well, as Cheryl mentioned last blog, we had visitors - very special visitors - for the last 3 1/2 days. She already mentioned the beginning when G&J,A&M and Artemo had problems and she mentioned the turtle watch so this will just be a short blog so we can put some pictures of the visit up and share a little about what it meant.



As already mentioned, it took the actual sight of family to make obvious how much we missed them and all of our friends and family. We had a taste of it when Aleitha and Randy came and went so it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise but it kind of was.


Monday aftermoon, after everyone had settled down from the adventure and Artemo was re-anchored a bit closer to the beach, we all went ashore and eventually went up to eat at the Dodgy Dock on True Blue Bay. We had anchored in that Bay prior to putting the boat up so knew about the food and atmosphere - which were both really good - and we also had not enjoyed the food, prices or conviviality at "De Big Fish", the restaurant in the area of where the boat was up.


The Dodgy Dock is close to where Cheryl and I stayed so after we ate, Alex and Amelia decided to stay with us there while Graham and Julie had some quiet time. The kids were looking forward to TV, A/C and of course Millie, being the cutie she is, was very quick to take advantage of the shower.


Tuesday we all got together over the day at various times and places as I was working for a bit on the boat, Graham needed to find a hardware( ACE) and NAPA store and Julile, Cheryl and the kids did their thing. We ended the daylight part of the day by all going over to Prickly Bay Marina for pizza before we left to go turtle watching.



Wednesday I was again on the boat, Cheryl was doing our last laundry at the apartment and the Perry's slept in and then relaxed. They came to land for a while and then Julie and the kids hit the beach where we joined them later in the day for some fun in the water. Very relaxing for us. For supper we again went to the Dodgy Dock and then all went to ground pretty quickly. We had the boat to put in the water the next day and the Perrys had to prepare for Julie and the kids flying back.


Thursday I was at the boat pretty well all day. There was a delay of launch due to circumstances so we didn't get in the water until about 4. That gave Graham a chance to get to the Napa store again while Julie, Cheryl and the kids took the local bus down to Grand Anse to see the beach and also so Cheryl could stock up with meats and spoilables to put on the boat.

After we were launched and then moored a hundred yards away from Artemo, everyone came to Mystic Journey for a BBQ prior to departure.

I cannot express properly how positive and loved and "family-supported" this visit left us feeling. Even though we get great support and affirmation by internet from family and friends, to have that in the flesh is so great, In a sense the visit reinforced that the people still at home provide the same great feelings, just in a different way. So thanks to the Perrys for not only the visit but also for the reminder of what we are so lucky to have and thanks to you all for being there.

The Perry’s and Turtles

This week has brought some very enjoyable experiences.

On Monday the Perry's arrived in Grenada. We were expecting their arrival and Griff had the VHF radio turned on while he was on the boat. Finally about 3pm he tried calling them since we had heard nothing from them. "Artemo, Artemo, Artemo this is Mystic Journey, Mystic Journey, Mystic Journey" went out over the airwaves. Back came Julie's voice saying they were at the entrance to Prickly Bay trying to anchor without steerage" Can you come and help!!". We got into the dinghy and headed out into the bay. We found Artemo at the entrance, already anchored. Their steering system has stopped working as they were coming towards Prickly Bay and they sailed the rest of the way using the auto pilot.

When I saw them standing on the deck, I realized how much I was missing family and friends. It was great to see them. We went on board and Griff proceeded to help Graham figure out what had happened to the steering and between the two of them were able to fix the problem. For more information on their adventure check out their blog site listed under links.

Last night we headed out on a turtle watch with the Perry's and three other couples. Leatherback turtles come to a couple of beaches at the north end of Grenada every year from April to July to lay their eggs. There is a group here called Ocean Spirit that is doing research on the turtles and conducts tours to help generate interest and knowledge of the leatherback turtles. These turtles are the largest reptile found on earth. They can grow to 2 – 3 meters in length and weigh up to 1 ton. The oldest one found was determined to be 80 years old. Except for the time the females spend on land laying eggs the turtles spend their entire lives in the water and are found all around the world including waters off the eastern coast of Canada.

We were fortunate in what we got to see during our watch. After a 2 hour drive to the north end of the island we arrived at the beach at approximately 8PM. No turtles were on the beach and it was raining. Shortly after we arrived, Dora, our guide, told us there was a turtle coming out of the water a short distance down the beach. Sure enough we looked and there was what looked like a large rock approximately 100 meters away moving away from the water.

We watched it move up onto the beach, find a spot that she liked and then start to "plant" herself. To do this she used her front flippers to push the sand away from the front until she arrived at wet sand. They call this "swimming". At that point her upper body was slightly dug into the sand and she started working with her back flippers digging the hole for the eggs. This is what you see in the picture.

It is looking at the turtle from the back end. The colour is due to the use of red lights rather than white because white light distracts the turtles. Unfortunately just as the hole was getting deep enough one of the researches accidently knocked some loose sand into the hole and the turtle immediately stopped digging and moved to another site and started the process again, but soon abandoned that and headed back to sea. Dora said that it may have been because of the number of people standing around, but that she would come back in a couple of days. By this time there were two more turtles further down the beach, so off we went. The second turtle we reached had started digging her nest, but the researchers noticed she was digging down into another nest so they were filling in the hole as quickly as she was digging and eventually she gave up and headed to the sea.

On the way to the third turtle we happened to notice a couple of hatchlings heading down to the sea. Dora followed their trails back to where they figured the nest was, but could not see any other hatchlings coming out so everyone but Griff headed back to watch the other hatchlings continue their trip to the sea. Then Griff called out that there was another one coming out. He said it first appeared as a little black dot in the sand and he began to wonder if it really was a turtle because it wiggled once and stopped (he says is vision is questionable at the best of times!) One of the researchers went to him and confirmed that is what was happening. We went back to the nest and watched the researcher assist 21 hatchlings out of the nest. We watched these hatchlings head to the sea. Some of us assisted the hatchlings by smoothing out the sand in front of them to make it easier for them to travel to the sea. We learned that these hatchlings will swim for 72 hours straight immediately after they enter the sea to ensure that they are in a safer area of the sea. Hatchlings are prey for anything bigger than they are – birds, fish, etc. As well if they come out of the nest too soon or too late in the night they become dehydrated quickly in the sun and die. For every 1000 hatchlings that make it to the sea only 1 will survive to return in 15 years to lay eggs and start the cycle again.

We finally got to the third turtle. She was working on her second hole for the night. The first one she had gotten down deep enough that she encountered clay below the sand and could not dig any deeper because of the clay. The sand layer at that end of the beach was not as deep as at the other end of the beach. At the second hole she was also into clay, but the researcher was helping her and between the two of them the hole became deep enough that she started laying eggs. Because of the clay the researcher would not leave the eggs in the hole because the clay would not be warm enough to hatch the eggs and if any did hatch they would not be able to dig their way out. The researcher caught the eggs, put them in a bucket and then later dug another hole down the beach and buried the eggs there. When the turtle finished laying eggs she filled in the hole with sand and tamped it down well with her back flippers.

So we were able to see all parts of the process – nest building, egg laying, covering the eggs and the hatchlings – even though some parts were done with assistance by the researchers. The researchers also tag the turtles, insert microchips and measure the length and width of the shell. They keep track of the turtles this way and can tell when they come back to lay again and where they travel.

Watching Alex's and Amelia's response to the evening was as enjoyable as watching the turtles. They were very keen on helping the hatchlings and were amazed at the size of the turtles. They were able to stroke the back of the female after she laid the eggs and before she finished covering it.

The next blog will be about BEING BACK IN THE WATER!!!! Thursday at 2:00 we become boat people again. At Last!!!

Hey all - thought I would put my face in this one in case you have forgotten what I sound/look like - or maybe you want too hmmmmm.

Well, the boat paintwork is finally finished. They moved the supports holding the boat up to different spots so they could finish the antifouling. The topsides look absolutely great. If you look closely at the picture you can see my reflection as I came down the ladder (in the blue stripe).

We still have to get our lettering reprinted on the back and Cheryl and I have been slaving away putting all the hardware we took off back on. The only outside portion of the boat that needs work now is the upper section i.e the part covering the salon and cabins. It has a single coat with fairly cheap paint on it and when the tape that was put on for the awlgrip application on the deck was taken off, it took some paint off too. This had actually happened to us before when we removed some masking tape we were using to steady our computer antenna. There is also a bit of primer got splashed on that portion so we need to deal with that but not before we go back in the water. Frankie, the supervisor who was the project leader for our boat has offered to come onto the boat the first weekend we are in the water and show us the best/easiest way to re-do the upper part.

Apropos of nothing, I was walking back from the bank today and again noted the non-relationship between car drivers and pedestrians. It seems to be accepted by both - like the drivers don't show any courtesies and the pedestrians don't expect it. An example would be when you are approaching a lane of driveway that provides access to the main road. In Canada, if you are walking on the sidewalk and come up to one of these that has a car about to come onto the road, normally the driver will stop and let you cross. Here the objective is for them to get into the traffic - it is not like they are in conflict with you - it is like they don't see you in the context of having any right to expect them to stop. It is alright once you get used to it but kind of "insulting" in the beginning. The other thing I realized the other day while watching two cars racing each other down the 1 1/2 lane road I mentioned before. There are no posted speed limits on any of the roads and I have never seen a police car with a car pulled over. Cool.

Enough - see you next time

Cheryl's Adventure

Today I ventured out on my own for the first time. I had to take some documents in to be couriered home and Griff was busy with appointments on the boat so off I went. Flagged down a bus and headed towards St. George's. The FedEx building is on the harbour front just before you get downtown. On the bus I was seated beside a woman on holiday here from England. She and her companion were talking about the bus system and I joined in on the conversation, explaining how the busses were operated privately and they tried everything they could to get passengers on the bus. What I found interesting was she said it sounds like you come here often - I said no, but I had been here a month and used the busses often. I could see FedEx in the distance so I knocked on the side of the bus to get them to stop and they did.


After sending off the documents I decided to walk back along the harbour front until I came to a grocery store so I could do some shopping. Then it was back on the bus for the trip 'home'. I stopped at the boatyard and had lunch with Griff before heading back to the apartment.


Yesterday we also went into St. George's for a short shopping trip and to pick up a parcel at the post office. We spent some time in the market place buying some souveniers. There we met a fellow wearing a T-shirt from Calgary - the 2004 Calgary Corporate Challenge T-shirt. His sister had sent it to him, she lives in Canada. He actually has five siblings living in Canada. We bought a pendant from him that he had carved from a piece of driftwood - it was a tiki charm similar to those carved by the Caribs, the original inhabitants of the islands.

Through out the downtown area there were groups of police recruits. We saw a total of 24 recruits in groups of 6 with their instructors. They seemed to be learning how to direct traffic. Watching the instructors was like watching dancers. They were graceful and their hand movements were amazing. The group in the video were at the top of a hill and were directing the traffic at the intersection they were at and also the traffic at the intersection a block away at the bottom of the hill.




The other thing we saw/heard was a woman who was using a bullhorn to talk to the people in the streets. She was telling people to remember their youth and to repent. At one point she was saying "take care of your children". With all the traffic noise and music coming from the stores you could only hear her about a half a block away.

The Rainy Season

Well the rains have finally arrived. The past couple of nights it has rained during the late evening and night. So far the rains have not lasted long - 10 to 15 minutes at the most, but they do come down. They start and finish suddenly. It's as if someone has turned over a glass of water and then when it is empty it stops. By morning everything is dry.

The rain in the video lasted 20 minutes and consisted of a series of downpours.

Fortunately most of the painting is done on the boat. This week they finished the deck and topsides (toerail to waterline). Yesterday they did the detail painting on the topsides and the waterline stripe. One of the other boaters commented on the paint job done on the topsides. He said it had good depth of shine. This means you can see a good reflection in the paint. Hopefully you can see that in the accompaning picture.

Griff also got the dinghy finished today. It now has a coat of etching primer, primer and two coats of paint inside and a coat of etching primer and two coats of anti-fouling paint on the bottom. Now we have to get it back in the water without scratching it.

The last thing we did today was mark the anchor chain. We bought new chain to go with the new anchor and we had to mark it every 20 feet so Griff will know how much chain has gone out when we drop the anchor. We need to let out 5 feet of chain for every foot of depth we are anchoring in. We marked it by putting a coat of primer on it, then sprayed it with yellow paint and then put plastic ties throught the chain links.

More Goin's On

So here we still are - boat on land, hat in hand (had to do that!) and speaking for me, yearning to be back in the water.

The boat is coming along really well. They had told us probably the end of June or with luck the middle and it looks like the second possibility "may" happen. The wet season has usually started by this time and while it is not like they seem to be getting in Fort Macleod lately, it can still be disruptive. The guys (and us) have really worked hard, however, and yesterday they finished putting the awlgrip on the deck. I think I mentioned before that awlgrip is probably the best paint finish you can put on a boat and they put 3 coats on the deck, prefaced by 3 coats of primer and a coat of West resin so it is going to be a really solid job. The finish goes on in two different "patterns". Where there is foot traffic it is applied as a kind of rough finish for traction and around the stay bases, along the toe rail, around the windlass and anywhere feet don't usually go it is a smooth finish. The topsides (sides of the boat from top to waterline) are also going to be done in 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of smooth awlgrip and that was actually scheduled for today. Whether it will take place or not is the question.

I said the wet season was late but last night it absolutely poured. Rain here doesn't start softly, pick up intensity and then taper off. It is like the Big Kahuna suddenly decides to pour a pot of water on us Caribbean earthlings. It teems and in 5-10 minutes it stops. Last night it did this a bunch of times through the night. We think the roof here must be corrugaged metal and since we are on the top floor and there is of course no need for insulation in the ceiling, it is quite loud. We had company for supper and had an outburst and they were quite surprised by both the quick onset and the volume.

So, we still need to return the deck hardware to its proper places so it will be back into the hatches in awkward positions for us and lots of nutting and bolting but we are going to wait until the topsides are painted so we don't get in the way.

The dinghy is almost completely stripped of paint on the aluminum bottom and back. I wasn't as diligent on the inside as the outside because it is not as crucial that the surface is uniformly paint free on the areas that don't need antifoulling i.e the inside. This weekend we will apply the paint and that will be that.

That is the boat catch-up. Stay tuned for more reflections in Grenada - about to happen.......NOW

I have gotten into the habit of going for a walk in the afternoons to ward off the onset of complete cabin fever craziness. I usually walk to the bank, which is about 1 1/2 miles away down a 3 lane divided road (the driving portion of the road on each side of the centre area is about 1 1/2 lanes wide but they use each side as a 2 lane). It is through a kind of industrial area, although there are schools, a dilapidated unused drive-in theatre, a New York Bagel outlet way off the road in an apartment building and a mish-mash of other things. There is no sidewalk on one side although there are short stretches on the side with the schools. By the way, I go to the bank because we are paying for the dinghy davits and for our rent in cash and we can only draw a certain amount out each time so we are stockpiling some cash to do that. We also will need to turn some EC (Eastern Caribbean) dollars into US dollars for our initial foray into Trinidad/Tobago.

Anyway, back to my walk. This month is Love the Children month in Grenada, which I didn't know before but explains a really neat parade I saw on this industrial road. About 150 children ranging from 5 to about 15 were walking in pairs along one of the stretches of sidewalk. A lot of them had handmade signs saying things like "Love us - We are all your children" or "Children deserve love" etc etc. All the the children that we have seen on all of the islands wear uniforms to school, which I think looks really neat, and it was so cool to see these children with big eyes and big smiles holding up the signs and waving at people, including me. I find most Caribbean natives particularly attractive - I call it handsome, both male and female. There is a lot of grace and regality about the way they carry themselves. In the children it comes out as openness and beauty. After they had passed I found myself smiling for no apparent reason other than feeling good - and not caring if people thought I was having "private conversations" in my head.

A couple of days later, same road, practically the same place, I heard a police siren and up ahead noticed a police car pull out of one of the side streets and block the main 1 1/2 lane thoroughfare. Then I started to hear music. (Honest!!) out of this side street came a procession of men of various ages, again walking two by two and all wearing red t-shirts with writing on them. There appeared to be 170-200 men and in the middle of the procession was a stake truck - like a van with no sides or back - with a band consisting of clarinets saxophones and a guitar, all amplified, and another gentleman with a guitar walking along beside the truck. They were playing old-time gospel music and for all the time that I heard it, it was the same "hymn" but with words that the singer seemed to make up as he went along. All the works were words of praise for God but sung with a strong gospel beat and as the singer sang a line, a lot of the marchers would then sing it back. On the "raise your hands to the Lord" parts, everyone would throw their hands into the air and most were walking to the beat of the music. Actually, some were almost dancing and many were, twisting, turning and clapping.

As they got closer I was able to see that the writing on the t-shirts said Ecclesiastical Passover For Men and in fact at the very back of the procession there were three priests (I assumed by the fancy white robes with gold threaded decorations). The really neat thing about the whole thing was the expressions on the faces of the men. Some were smiling, some were positively beaming, some were more somber but all of them looked content to be in there own skins and not at all embarrassed to be walking down a major thoroughfare in support of their beliefs. They had "Happy" religion. And my feeling was they probably didn't walk door to door trying to convert others. Cool.

Something I must remark on. Both of these parades I just mentioned took place in mid-afternoon (hottest time) on a weekday, unlike home where it is done on a weekend for maximum exposure. To me it indicates that they are doing these things not for others but for themselves. I like that! I must also mention that on both occasions, I was camera-less. Shame on me!

Well, I have once again gotten into "long drawn out" mode so will finish. I must say that although I would much rather be sailing, there are much worse places to be than Grenada to be "on the hard". Next time, if I remember, I will talk a bit about people we have met.